They were by their own admission complacent, believing that trade and closer economic integration would remove the threat. They’ve changed their minds since Rus

They were by their own admission complacent, believing that trade and closer economic integration would remove the threat. They’ve changed their minds since Russia invaded Ukraine. Germany has also been able to benefit from the overall NATO and European security umbrella and, unlike the US, UK, or France, has no alliances or foreign territories that require it to provide security or uphold security guarantees far from home. That meant a different force design and spending profile. For instance, Germany has no strategic need for carriers, which France, the UK, and US have, purely because it doesn’t need that level of global force projection.